• 454 Life Sciences, of Branford, Conn., a majority-owned subsidiary of CuraGen Corp., received a two-year, $2.4 million grant from the National Human Genome Research Institute to fund the scale-up of the company's technology for the sequencing of larger genomes, such as fungi. The company plans to develop measurement systems that sequence an individual's human genome on a PicoTiter plate.

• Acambis plc, of Cambridge, UK, said it would receive $19 million from Baxter Healthcare Corp., of Deerfield, Ill., after both parties agreed to terminate a manufacturing agreement - $9 million is payable immediately, while two $5 million payments are payable January 2005 and 2006. Under the December 2000 agreement, Acambis was to manufacture components of bacterial vaccines at its Canton, UK, facility, but last year, Baxter halted certain bacterial vaccine projects.

• Accelr8 Technology Corp., of Denver, said it is selling its software migration tools business for $500,000, a divestiture that marks its transition from software into medical diagnostic platforms that feature the company's surface chemistry and instrumentation technologies. At the same time, Accelr8 named David Howson its president. He previously served as a consultant to the company.

• Agilent Technologies Inc., of Palo Alto, Calif., released a liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry system for proteomics and pharmaceutical applications that integrates instrumentation, software, columns and method protocols for identification of proteins and biomarkers.

• Alteon Inc., of Parsippany, N.J., said Phase IIb data of its lead A.G.E. Crosslink Breaker, alagebrium, demonstrate a significant reduction in systolic blood pressure in patients that are traditionally difficult to treat. The results support the potential of alagebrium as a first-in-class antihypertensive agent with characteristics different from existing blood pressure drugs. The trial evaluated ALT-711 to determine its effectiveness in 800 patients with elevated systolic blood pressure with or without enlargement of the left ventricle of the heart.

• AVAX Technologies Inc., of Overland Park, Kan., is raising $3 million in gross proceeds after entering definitive agreements to sell about 10 million common shares at 30 cents apiece. The company also agreed to issue warrants for an additional 1.5 million shares at 35 cents each and 1.5 million shares at 39 cents each. Investors include Credit Suisse Equity Global Biotech Fund, Matignon Technologies Fund and the Fortis Equity Biotechnology Fund. Privateq Advisors in Zurich, Switzerland, is acting as an adviser in the placement.

• Barrier Therapeutics Inc., of Princeton, N.J., received marketing authorization from the Belgian Health Authority for Zimycan in diaper dermatitis. Barrier selected Belgium in June as its reference member state for registering Zimycan in the European Union, filing for marketing authorization there. Zimycan is a topical ointment consisting of 0.25 percent miconazole, an antifungal agent, in a zinc oxide and petrolatum base.

• Bioenvision Inc., of New York, said a Phase II trial of clofarabine as a first-line treatment in older adults with acute myeloid leukemia exceeded expectations and will end, allowing the company to focus on accelerating enrollment in the pivotal study. Nine out of 14 patients in the Phase II study showed a complete response using clofarabine as a single agent. The trial was designed for 37 patients, but it will stop at 25 evaluable patients. The drug is partnered with San Antonio-based ILEX Oncology Inc. A new drug application was filed in March in refractory or relapsed acute leukemia in children.

• Bioxel Pharma Inc., of St.-Foy, Quebec, launched its large-scale taxane manufacturing platform. The company said it now can produce several hundred kilograms of taxanes annually, including 120 kilograms of pure cGMP paclitaxel.

• BTG plc, of West Conshohocken, Pa., formed a collaboration with Cancer Research Technology Ltd. for a new class of cancer drug. BTG obtained exclusive worldwide rights to a series of quinazoline antitumor agents developed by Ann Jackman and colleagues at the Institute of Cancer Research. BTG will be responsible for the development and commercialization of the compounds. Cancer Research Technology is the technology transfer company of Cancer Research UK and the Institute of Cancer Research.

• Cell Therapeutics Inc., of Seattle, said a combination of Trisenox (arsenic trioxide) injection and thalidomide in patients with myelodysplastic syndrome produced multi-lineage hematologic responses in 25 percent of the 28 patients studied. A separate study showed that Trisenox as a monotherapy resulted in a clinical benefit to patients with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma with objective responses in 33 percent of the 24 patients studied. Trisenox received FDA approval in 2000 to treat patients with relapsed or refractory acute promyelocytic leukemia. It gained marketing authorization in Europe in 2002.

• CellFactors plc, of Cambridge, UK, said the U.S. Patent Office upheld its patent covering a method of producing and immortalizing human neural cell lines. The patent also covers cells and cell lines produced by that method, including cells engineered to contain a genetic safety switch. The outcome follows the grant of the equivalent European patent earlier this year, also after challenge by a third party.

• Cenix BioScience GmbH, of Dresden, Germany, moved all of its operations into new facilities within that city's recently completed BioInnovation Center. Cenix offers research services combining genome-driven, high-throughput applications of RNA interference with read-out methodologies in human cells, Drosophila and C. elegans for drug discovery.

• Cerus Corp., of Concord, Calif., said a Phase IIIc trial of the Intercept Blood System for plasma met its primary and secondary efficacy endpoints, comparing the effectiveness of plasma treated with the system to conventional (control) plasma. Specifically, 82 percent of patients in the test group achieved remission within 30 days after the first therapeutic plasma exchange, compared to 89 percent of those in the control group. Secondary efficacy endpoints, comparing time to first remission, relapse rates and plasma exchange volume, also were achieved. The company's stock (NASDAQ:CERS) dropped 35 cents Wednesday, or 12.8 percent, to close at $2.39.

• Dynavax Technologies Corp., of Berkeley, Calif., said its Phase II/III trial of AIC for ragweed allergy is fully enrolled with 462 subjects at 20 sites in the U.S. The study, which began in February, will be completed over the next 18 months. The primary endpoint is nasal symptoms scores after the second ragweed season in the late summer and early fall of 2005. Secondary endpoints will assess symptoms, medication use and quality of life in both the first and second year. Dynavax in February signed a global licensing and commercialization agreement covering ragweed and grass allergy immunotherapies with UCB Pharma, of Brussels, Belgium.

• Evotec OAI AG, of Hamburg, Germany, formed a collaboration with Nuvios Inc., of Cambridge, Mass., to screen small-molecule compounds for potential drugs to treat and prevent osteoporosis. Evotec will apply its ultra-high-throughput screening, including confocal fluorescence and other technologies, for the identification of biologically active compounds to Nuvios' assays for profiling the effects of compounds on osteoclast and osteoblast growth and differentiation.

• First Horizon Pharmaceutical Corp., of Alpharetta, Ga., is reinitiating a share purchase program, calling for the repurchase of up to $10 million of the company's common stock, less the $3 million of shares previously repurchased by the company since inception of the repurchase program in 2002. First Horizon is a specialty pharmaceutical company that markets products with a primary focus on cardiology and women's health and pediatrics.

• Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle said its researchers published findings in the May 19, 2004, issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association showing that leukemia or lymphoma patients who undergo hematopoietic cell transplantation and survive can expect full recovery to take three to five years. They found that physical recovery occurred earlier than psychological or work recovery. Only 19 percent of patients recovered on all outcomes at one year, while the proportion without major limitations increased to 63 percent by five years.

• Genetronics Biomedical Corp., of San Diego, plans to sell $10.9 million of its Series C cumulative convertible preferred stock. The stock will be convertible into Genetronics common stock at an initial conversion price of $1.70 per share. Genetronics will pay the holders of the Series C preferred stock a 6 percent dividend, in shares or cash, and each holder will receive warrants to purchase shares of Genetronics common stock in an amount equal to 35 percent of the number of shares of common stock underlying the Series C preferred stock at $2.20 per share. Genetronics is focused on building an oncology franchise based on its electroporation therapy.

• GenoMed Inc., of St. Louis, signed a service agreement with the McGill University in Montreal and Genome Quebec Innovation Centre in Montreal. The Genome center will perform large-scale screening projects for GenoMed. GenoMed's genotyping consists of two stages: screening a number of single nucleotide polymorphisms and validating a smaller number of them.

• ImClone Systems Inc., of New York, said it intends to redeem on June 18 all of its outstanding 5.5 percent convertible subordinated notes due 2005. The redemption price is 101.1 percent of the principal amount of the notes to be redeemed, about $240 million, plus accrued and unpaid interest through June 17. Holders of the notes may exercise their rights of conversion at a price of $55.09 per share with respect to the notes through the close of business on June 17.

• Isotechnika Inc., of Edmonton, Alberta, received a "no objection" letter from Health Canada for the beginning of a Phase I trial for TAFA-93. TAFA-93 is a prodrug of the mTOR inhibitor rapamycin. TAFA-93 was designed to reduce the pharmacokinetics and side effects of rapamycin. The study will involve about 50 subjects.

• Keryx Biopharmaceuticals Inc., of New York, said data demonstrated the potential cardioprotective properties of sulodexide, KRX-101, in a rabbit model of ischemia/reperfusion injury. The results suggest that sulodexide, like heparins, has vascular-protective effects in coronary artery disease, cerebrovascular disease and peripheral vascular disease, but without the risk for increased bleeding. KRX-101, which belongs to a new class of drugs called glycosaminoglycans, is orally administered and did not cause any clinically significant changes in blood-coagulation factors.

• MicroIslet Inc., of San Diego, said it developed and tested two enhanced biocompatible material formulations to encapsulate adult porcine islets reproducibly with high viability and functionality. The microcapsules were effective in fully immunocompetent diabetic mice when transplanted. The two formulations outperform previous formulations in terms of graft survival at the doses tested, MicroIslet said The study was conducted in collaboration with the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, Calif.

• MorphoSys AG, of Martinsried, Germany, entered a collaboration with Novartis AG, of Basel, Switzerland, to discover and develop antibody-based biopharmaceuticals as therapeutic agents. During the three-year term of the agreement, which may be extended to five years, Novartis will fund internal research at MorphoSys that will generate and optimize HuCAL Gold antibodies against targets identified by Novartis. Also, Novartis will have access to the current MorphoSys HuCAL Gold library at two of its sites. Novartis will be MorphoSys' first partner to receive a nonexclusive option on internalization of the entire MorphoSys technology platform, which would trigger an additional payment to MorphoSys. Novartis will invest about €9 million in MorphoSys' non-interest-bearing convertible bonds that can be converted into 490,133 common shares. MorphoSys, which will receive more than $30 million in research and development funding and technology license fees over the first three years, stands to receive technology license payments, research and developmental milestones, as well as royalties on marketed antibody products.

• Nastech Pharmaceutical Co. Inc., of Bothell, Wash., presented five abstracts at the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists National Biotechnology Conference in Boston. Nastech developed and validated a radioimmunoassay method for the determination of peptide YY3-36, a satiety hormone, in plasma samples to support preclinical and clinical studies. Nastech has evaluated the stability of an intranasal formulation of peptide YY3-36, a candidate for obesity.

• Neurochem Inc., of Montreal, said Phase III trials of Alzhemed in Alzheimer's disease are scheduled to begin next month in North America and early next year in Europe. Each of the 18-month studies will involve about 950 mild to moderate patients. The company noted that interim results from its ongoing Phase II open-label, extension study show that after 16 months of Alzhemed treatment, a majority of patients suffering from mild Alzheimer's disease have shown stabilized or improved results on cognitive function tests.

• Northfield Laboratories Inc., of Evanston, Ill., closed its $23.4 million financing of about 1.95 million shares of common stock. S.G. Cowen & Co. LLC acted as exclusive placement agent. The company intends to use proceeds to support its efforts to bring its oxygen-carrying blood substitute, PolyHeme, to the market. The product is being developed to treat blood loss in trauma and surgical settings. (See BioWorld Today, May 14, 2004.)

• Phenomenome Discovery Inc., of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, said its DiscovAmetrics metabolome-analysis technology was able to differentiate all study parameters as part of a research project with Wyeth, of Madison, N.J. The company uses its analysis and bioinformatics platform for non-targeted metabolomic investigations of biological samples.

• Seattle Genetics Inc., of Bothell, Wash., entered a license agreement with Imperial College Innovations Ltd., a technology transfer company of Imperial College London, for exclusive rights to a monoclonal antibody targeting a cell-surface, tumor-associated antigen. The company plans to evaluate the therapeutic potential of the antibody against a variety of cancers, including hematologic malignancies and solid tumors, such as breast, colon and bladder cancer. Seattle Genetics has development, manufacturing and worldwide commercialization rights to products developed under the license agreement. Imperial College Innovations will receive an up-front fee, milestone payments and potential royalties.

• Sinovac Biotech Ltd., of Beijing, received funding support from the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Md., for a severe acute respiratory syndrome vaccine project. Sinovac's Chinese partners include the National Institute for Viral Disease Control and Prevention, the China Institute for Animal Research and the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

• SkyePharma plc, of London, and Endo Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Chadds Ford, Pa., said the FDA approved the new drug application for DepoDur to treat pain following major surgery. DepoDur, formerly called DepoMorphine, is a single-dose, sustained-release, injectable formulation of morphine. The clinical trial program for DepoDur involved more than 1,000 patients in four different pain models and demonstrated the potential to improve post-operative pain. Endo expects to launch the product by the end of this year. SkyePharma submitted the NDA last July.

• St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, Tenn., said its researchers published data in the Journal of Biological Chemistry showing that the inactivation of a protective molecule in leukemic cells to make them more vulnerable to chemotherapy might also make healthy blood-forming cells more sensitive to the toxic effects of those same drugs. When hematopoietic stem cells from mice carrying the BCRP (breast cancer-resistance protein) gene were kept at normal oxygen levels and given the anti-leukemic drug mitoxantrone, 40 percent survived. However, when hematopoietic stem cells from mice lacking the BCRP gene were exposed to mitoxantrone under the same conditions, none of the cells survived.

• TecScan International Inc., of Los Angeles, completed its merger with Bio-Life Laboratories Corp., with Bio-Life surviving as a wholly owned subsidiary of TecScan. TecScan issued 35 million shares to the shareholders of Bio-Life in exchange for all outstanding Bio-Life shares. As a result of the transaction, former Bio-Life shareholders hold about 74 percent of the outstanding shares of TecScan. The merged company will focus on treatments for cancer, diabetes and hepatitis C, and will be headed by a management team including Bio-Life's president and CEO Nancy LeMay.

• Weill Cornell Medical College in New York said its researchers published findings in the May 11, 2004, issue of Cell pointing to the identification of compounds that inhibit growth of new blood vessels. They found that the notochord in a developing embryo emits two chemicals, chordin and noggin, which effectively block bone morphogenic protein (BMP) signaling. The data also suggest that BMP promotes the development and migration of blood vessel precursor cells.

• Xechem International Inc., of New Brunswick, N.J., said its majority-owned subsidiary Ceptor Corp. received a $145,226 grant to support its project to study protection from hearing loss using calpain inhibitors. Calpain is the primary protease that degrades skeletal muscle and nerve tissue. Earlier studies have shown that leupeptin, a known calpain inhibitor, can protect against certain kinds of cochlear damage. When the company's calpain-inhibiting leupeptin fragment is linked to its taurine carrier, Ceptor is able to target nerve damage to hair cells in the ear as a result of chronic antibiotic use or noise trauma.

• XenoPort Inc., of Santa Clara, Calif., published two peer-reviewed manuscripts in the Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics that describe preclinical studies of XP13512, XenoPort's transported prodrug of gabapentin. The first article describes XP13512's in vitro properties - it was shown to be converted to gabapentin in intestinal and liver tissue from a variety of species. The second article describes the results of preclinical pharmacokinetic studies of XP13512. Oral dosing to rats and monkeys resulted in efficient absorption and rapid conversion to gabapentin. Exposure to gabapentin was dose-proportional, while exposure to intact XP13512 was low.